The Toronto-based University Health Network’s UHN Foundation has announced a gift of C$11 million ($8.58 million) from an anonymous donor in support of treatment services and research into neurofibromatosis (NF) at the health system’s Krembil Brain Institute.

The gift will be directed to the institute’s Elisabeth Raab Neurofibromatosis Clinic, considered one of the nation’s premier facilities for the study and treatment of NF—a genetic disorder of the nervous system that can increase the risk of cancer affecting approximately one in 10,000 Canadian adults. The clinic offers patient care alongside clinical and basic science research, providing patients a multidisciplinary approach to care and treatment. In addition, the gift—one of the largest single donations made for NF research—will establish a research chair in neurofibromatosis at the institute.

“[T]here is a shortage of medical and scientific experts in the neurofibromatosis field,” said clinic co-director Gelareh Zadeh. “This gift…will be transformative in our approach to supporting collaborative research and discoveries for improving the outcome of patients.”

“With this new investment, we will be able to further understand what happens in neurofibromatosis tumors that start out benign and then become cancerous,” said clinic co-director Vera Bril. “As current treatment options are limited, this research is essential to help identify more targets for therapeutic intervention.”

(Photo credit: UHN Foundation/Adam Mintz)